WrestleMania Looking for your thoughts on Wrestlemania 3

[Wrasslemaniac]

Hey folks,

As before with Wrestlemania 2, I'm looking for contributions/thoughts/opinions etc ahead of the next installment of the Wrasslemania Podcast.

This episode will be looking at Wrestlemania 3 from the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit

• What are your memories of Wrestlemania 3 (did anyone on here attend it? - if so tell us your stories about it)
• Do you think there really was 93,000 there?
• Was it a good card?
• Were there any standout performances for you?
• What were the highlights for you?
• What were the lowlights?
• What were your thoughts on the slam heard around the world?

Any comments are greatly appreciated as always guys! Episode 2 is not yet available as I will be dropping Episodes 2 & 3 close together (Matrix Style but better hopefully) so stay tuned for status updates from me with the linkage.

In the meantime you can find us on twitter, soundcloud and itunes

 

[Jeffry Mason]

• What are your memories of Wrestlemania 3 (did anyone on here attend it? - if so tell us your stories about it)

• Do you think there really was 93,000 there?

• Was it a good card?

• Were there any standout performances for you?

• What were the highlights for you?

• What were the lowlights?

• What were your thoughts on the slam heard around the world?

Wasn't yet alive, but I remember it being one of the first Mania's I watched on VHS from the video store.

Yes. Actually, I think there was 93,173 people there . Seriously though, yes. Between the hype given to the event, the fact that it was during arguably the absolute hottest point in wrestling popularity, and seeing attendance reports from other large non-WWF events around the same time i.e. Superbowl XXVI, I don't have much doubt that the actual claimed attendance was accurate.

I loved this event the first time I saw it over 20 years ago. I went back and watched all the Manias in order just a couple years ago, and this was one of the rougher ones to get through for me. The wrestling from a quality standpoint, compared to the standards of the era, didn't seem like anything special. It was mostly the spectacle, such as the celebrities and the enormous crowd, and the blowing off of feuds, rather than a bunch of guys going out and putting on their best performances.

Obviously Steamboat/Savage was a standout performance, and a pretty good end to a great storyline. Piper/Adonis has never failed to be entertaining, this being no exception, especially the classic shenanigans post-match. The actions of both men, and the addition of Beefcake, were perfect. I think I remember liking the 6-man, and especially the way they used Danny Davis. And Hogan/Andre was a perfect way to end the event, and really brought some of the best work out of both men. Gorilla and The Body also had standout performances, but there were few times when those two weren't great together.

Highlights were basically the same as above. Bonus highlight to Alice Cooper though. Just because it's always awesome to see him.

Lowlights was...well, everything else. The boring Haynes/Hercules "match"/Full Nelson Challenge that ended in a double DQ, the incredibly dumb thing with Bundy and the midgets, the abysmal Sheik/Volkoff vs. Killer Bees match...there was more bad on this show than good.

The slam is possibly the most famous moment in all of wrestling history, or at the very least within the top 5. Impressive feat, even if Hogan wasn't the first to slam Andre. I mean, this wasn't even the first time that Hogan slammed Andre. But Ventura and Monsoon's reaction, coupled with the already electric and enormous crowd going total bananas for the moment, in addition to the story they had built between the two, and finally the fact that it was the main event of the biggest and most important wrestling event of that era and for quite some time after, that slam has every reason to be as big a deal as it was and still is.

 

[Wrasslemaniac]

Thanks man! Great comments!

 

[Jacob Fox]

Been busy and missed that you needed information on this

 

[Wrasslemaniac]

Been busy and missed that you needed information on this :emoji_slight_frown:

no worries Jacob, the episode won't be getting recorded until next week, only managed to get round to getting the previous episode recorded & uploaded last week so want to make sure i can share it out on twitter, etc to get people listening first. Any comments are appreciated as your comments on Wrestlemania 2 were great!

 

[Jacob Fox]

no worries Jacob, the episode won't be getting recorded until next week, only managed to get round to getting the previous episode recorded & uploaded last week so want to make sure i can share it out on twitter, etc to get people listening first. Any comments are appreciated as your comments on Wrestlemania 2 were great!

Thank you! I find this really fun

What are your memories of Wrestlemania 3 (did anyone on here attend it? - if so tell us your stories about it) I didn't attend it. I remember watching it, but I am not sure how I watched it. I think maybe my uncle had it playing at a bar and I watched it... but I was a bit young to remember. It was a VFW bar and I had been there a lot as a child. I mostly remember how awe inspiring it was. I was still at the age where I believed the entire thing was real and it was quite overwhelming. I couldn't imagine anyone, not even Hulk Hogan, beating Andre the Giant. Also, I watched the Piper's Pit where Andre turned on Hogan and was really affected by it.

• Do you think there really was 93,000 there? No. It looked like it, but there has been too many reports of people that worked there and employees being in the count and that just is too weird.

• Was it a good card? Absolutely. I mean, looking back, it might not seem like it. But it was just a full day of matches between all the guys I was first exposed to wrestling with. They fit in a lot of matches and even the lesser matches seemed exciting. At the time I was very partial to Roddy Piper. Most of the matches were not that great in retrospect but it didn't matter because the event story was magnificent.

• Were there any standout performances for you? Well, Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage are the obvious ones. But I think a lot of people overlook the best performance of the night, which was in the main event. Bobby Heenan really sold that main event. The match between Hogan and Andre was not that great, even with the suspense that it naturally had. But Bobby Heenan put on an awesome performance as a manager, engaging the crowd and working for Andre. He really added to the match. Adrian Adonis was the other. He played such a hated character and he did it because he wanted to be a real heel for Piper to face in his last match. To act the way he did for his friend... wow.

• What were the highlights for you? At the time, Roddy Piper defeated Adrian was the main one. Also, being a kid at the time, Hogan beating Andre. Also the Can Am Connection. I was a big Rick Martel fan. I was happy to see him win. JunkyYard Dog vs Harley Race was cool too. It was cool of JYD to go ahead and do the bow when he lost to Race, but attacking Race after was great too. When Race trying headbutting JYD and it hurt his own head, that was funny

• What were the lowlights? Well, King Kong Bundy splashing a midget for one.

• What were your thoughts on the slam heard around the world? At the time, being 11 years old, it was amazing to me. We kids were led to believe this had never happened before. So it was monumental and surprising. When I saw it, I just couldn't believe it at all. Right at that moment, you knew Hogan would win the match too. Since then, it has had less of an effect when you find out that not only was it not the first time Andre was slammed, it wasn't the best on either.

All in all, this was the best of the early Wrestlemanias. I have watched easily a dozen times over. I will also watch it many more as it has a high rewatch factor.

 

[Wrasslemaniac]

Thank you! I find this really fun :emoji_slight_smile:

Thanks for your comments again Jacob, glad you enjoy it! There's 30 more to come after this!

 

[Wrasslemaniac]

Hey guys

Finally got round to getting this episode done. Youll find it on our soundcloud and itunes pages. Please give us a listen, like follow share etc and stick with me on my journey to immortality.

Ill be back soon to look for thoughts on wrestlemania 4 but once again appreciate the comments that were part of the mailbag